Web/Portals

Students now expect to use interactive, Web2.0 applications in their education environments. As part of a strategy to meet such expectations, Delta College in Michigan launched an online Delta iTunes U environment this fall.

Videoconferencing software developer Dimdim recently announced that it's releasing a Web-based conferencing solution specifically for education. The company's new Dimdim Virtual Classroom Pack, which debuted late last month, allows 10 teachers to host up to 40 students at a time in an online environment.

RightAnswers has released new 5.0 versions of its Support Analyst and Self-Service Portal modules for its Unified Knowledge Suite. According to the company, the latest version of the IT help desk software includes more than 100 enhancements, including a number of new Web 2.0 features for customizing the end-user experience.

Omnilert has integrated its e2Campus emergency notification system with Twitter. This enables e2Campus clients to push e2Campus alerts automatically and simultaneously to their schools' Twitter accounts without having to log in to their Twitter account separately.

Students at the Arizona State University (ASU) Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering now have access to more online lectures than any other university in the country, according to Sonic Foundry, the company that provides the Webcasting platform the school uses. The school recently recorded its 10,000th lecture.

The "technology revolution" is mis-named. Instead, we are in a human revolution... humans have learned to think with their fingers, to imagine that a flat screen is really as big as the world, to create new personae for themselves, to expand their social interactions in number and kind, to write and design in new ways, to visualize complex concepts, to find information in seconds, and incorporate that information into a constantly evolving awareness.

We all know the routine--all the world has changed but the classroom is the same as it was a millennium ago. Faculty feel guilty but don't know what to do... Ideas are powerful, especially when they have become beliefs and have been unquestioned for generations. Three in particular may be standing in the way of more faculty using our new learning tools in enlightened ways.

In a move that will certainly be echoed by other institutions if it hasn't been already, Texas A&M University just launched a new microsite specifically to let students post YouTube-style videos showing what life as an Aggie is all about. The site, along with a new Facebook profile, is part of a university marketing campaign called "Do You Wonder?"